How should a walkout be handled?

November 20, 2006 5:00 AM

What should happen when a customer maliciously walks out on his bill?

I continue to work in the service industry in Atlanta. Blech. Anyhow, it is current practice almost everywhere that if a customer leaves without paying the server has to cover the tab.

Now, upon thought, this seems very wrong. The rest. picks up all kinds of loss, the kitchen burns food, customers decide they don't like something, beer gets spilled. As a buisness loss is built into the budget, so why does the particular loss get turned into something else? Now, I guess you could say its because the server shouldn't let them leave, but first if someone is determined to leave, they are going to leave, second do we convince our table to really like their overdone hamburger?

If you work in a retail store and someone shoplifts, it isn't taken out of your paycheck (is it?). It just seems illegal to me, especially since its one of those unwritten rules that never shows up in personnell manual's, its just not in the employment contract that a wage earning employee would share in the losses when we don't precisely share in the profits.

What do you think?

posted by stormygrey to Work & Money (16 answers total)

It's a question of internal controls. If they didn't do it that way and someone paid cash, the server could pocket the money and claim that "they didn't pay their bill." It would be free money.

It's the same principle behind no receipt and it's free--it's the way the owner cuts down on internal theft.
posted by limagringo at 5:21 AM on November 20, 2006

It does seem unfair but, as limagringo points out, you should build your security system around your threat model.

How often does this happen? Is it usually the result of some perceived slight that a server might detect and alert a manager to? Or is it simply cheapskates who dine-and-dash?

If you wanted to build a better system, take advantage incentives. For example, if the server alerts the manager of a potential for dine-and-dash, some actions could be taken to prevent it, so the server should be rewarded by not having to bear the risk after sounding the alarm. Servers should also not have duties that prevent them from noticing absconders: tables should be contiguous, and duties should not take one out of sightline for long periods of time. If the bastards take advantage of the vinyl "booklets" to pretend to have left cash, then argue for open "check trays".

You can argue that it is unfair to push loss prevention onto the server if they are not given the proper tools to mitigate the problem.
posted by allan at 5:35 AM on November 20, 2006

Response by poster: We have a solid staff who has mostly been there for years, we have a solid customer base who is older, blue collar and pretty awesome if I do say so myself. So it doesn't happen much, and when it does, it just malicious not anything to do with service.

The last time it happened to me, a couple (regulars) were getting pretty tipsy, she got mad about something and left, he did some more shots, went to find her, didn't come back. In his altered state, he probably thought he paid and he usually not only pays but tips very well and asked me to bring the bill. In this case, he had closed out with another bartender in the bar up front, so we just ran his credit card number again.

I would like to reiterate though, it doesn't seem like a legal transaction. In the same way that employees don't get bigger checks when the place is making a lot of money, employees shouldn't get punished for a walk out. No one makes money from walkouts.
posted by stormygrey at 5:41 AM on November 20, 2006

Yeah, seems illegal to me too. You're the only interaction of the store with the customer, so the store obviously wants you to try really hard to get the customer to pay.

I wouldn't get between them and accept the cost.

First, start to keep records of each incident -- it could be useful in small claims court. On some day it will become profitable (it will probably cost $15), and you can file a small-claims ($n < 500) case with the county against the store owner (or manager -- i don't know which would be better).br>
Second, talk to your city- and your county-commissioner. If it's not illegal, then it should be, and perhaps you can help to make it so. Also make posting of this law/ordinance in a prominent place (next to the normal worker-rights postings) mandatory in all such restaurants.

Third, if those doesn't work out, then for every incident call the police. Report theft. When the officer arrives in the store, make sure the manager sees you busy for 10 minutes with the theft, not waiting tables, not talking to customers. If the manager wants to get involved, describe that it's not the store that the food was stolen from, it was you, since you sell by proxy.

Some of those may significantly decrease the duration of your employment, obviously.
posted by cmiller at 6:12 AM on November 20, 2006

It's also a check to ensure that the waitron makes sure the client doesn't walk out. Without the threat of being out the check, there's no incentive to watch the patron or to watch some other patron who might take cash off someone else's table.
posted by plinth at 7:03 AM on November 20, 2006

I've heard cashiers in several supermarkets talking with each other about "do that right, or it'll get taken out of your paycheck". So it might not just be restaurants. I'm not sure if that's common among supermarkets, or just the ones I go to.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:13 AM on November 20, 2006 [1 favorite]

I've read that in at least some jurisdictions it is illegal for restaurants to make waiters pay for walkouts. You might want to talk to the labour board in your state about the situation there.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:14 AM on November 20, 2006

When I worked as a cashier many moons ago any time our drawers were off more than a certain amount, it would be taken out of our paychecks after a certain number of warnings. So I'm guessing it's legal somehow.
posted by spicynuts at 7:15 AM on November 20, 2006

Response by poster: plinth, the incentive is your tip, you know, what we work for.
posted by stormygrey at 7:20 AM on November 20, 2006

Fitting in with ThePinkSuperhero's note, I think that this sort of policy is heavily referred to in many jobs, but rarely executed. It's an intimidation technique to suppress employee corruption, betting on the fact that a person won't try to cheat the business out of money if it will lead to losing some of their own.

In the restaurants I worked at, it was drummed into us that we'd have to pay for walkouts, but the few times that such incidents actually occurred, no pay was actually docked. I think managers are merely reserving the right to ask the server for money if they know or suspect something was up.

At my sister's last job a couple left cash for only half their bill and her boss made her cover the remaining $75. But then again, that was at the most disgustingly mismanaged restaurant either of us have ever encountered, Acqua Santa in Williamsburg. Brooklyn.

I don't know whether it's illegal, but considering what food costs compared to what restaurants actually charge for it, the fact that a business would rely on its servers (who have to tip everyone out and usually make just enough to get by) to cover their losses in this area is pretty vile.
posted by hermitosis at 7:27 AM on November 20, 2006

When I worked as a cashier many moons ago any time our drawers were off more than a certain amount, it would be taken out of our paychecks after a certain number of warnings. So I'm guessing it's legal somehow.

That seems entirely different to me. This is more akin to shoplifting than someone mismanaging their till.

Call the Atlanta Wage and Hour Office at [phone] to find out about the legality.
posted by grouse at 7:36 AM on November 20, 2006

Companies are not allowed to fine or otherwise charge employees so much money that it reduces their take for the week to less than minimum wage. If you're paying me 5.25 an hour for thirty hours of work per week and min. wage is 5.15, that means I only make 3 bucks a week over minimum wage. So you can fine me three bucks. But if you fine me four bucks, then I'm getting less than minimum wage and that's a no-no. Most of the time, of course, employers get away with it because employees would rather pay the fine than lose their job.

Of course, as a waitperson, you bring in tips and those would probably be factored in when determining whether you were being paid minimum wage. And there could be other exceptions, loopholes, etc. Talk to the U.S. Department of Labor; the're the experts on this stuff.
posted by Clay201 at 7:39 AM on November 20, 2006

I worked retail for years (a national chain in Atlanta), and we most definitely were not penalized for shoplifters. In fact, we were forbidden to touch the people who were, in some cases, picking up large items and walking out with them. My favorite quote: "Um, ma'am...would you mind bringing the leather elephant back into the store?"

Basically, the company didn't want to be liable for one of us getting injured by the crazy shoplifters--we were only allowed to take license plate numbers and call the police. I'd think restaurants would feel the same way about their servers trying to body-block customers who are walking on their checks.
posted by paleography at 9:06 AM on November 20, 2006

I've heard that petrol station employees have any drive-offs on their shift docked from their pay. Always seemed pretty harsh to me - there's not much you can do about it, after all.
posted by corvine at 10:24 AM on November 20, 2006

That wasn't true at the gas station I worked at (but then, neither was walkouts came out of my paycheque at the restaurant I worked at) but it might be true in other places.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:52 AM on November 20, 2006

Many restaurants have a walk-out fund. Usually, the wait staff throw a dollar or two in per shift to cover walkouts. Most places where I have worked have had this system. It was infrequently used, but really nice to have. When the pot would get over a set amount (usually equal to an average bill for four), we would convert the extra into a staff party fund.
posted by alltomorrowsparties at 2:41 AM on November 21, 2006